


Mixed Blessings

by misura



Category: Pock's World - Dave Duncan
Genre: F/M, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 08:43:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11986281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Umandral decides to settle down. Ratty is less than overjoyed.





	Mixed Blessings

Ratty was appalled. The words _'over my dead body'_ rose to his lips - and stayed there, because Umandral might take him up on it, and then where would Ratty be?

In Heaven, possibly, but without the joy of his life there, even if Heaven existed, it would be a lonely place.

Besides, someone had to at least try and talk some sense into his-but-not-his daughter, and Goddess knew her mother would refuse to do so. Ratty knew, because it had been the second thing Umandral had told him, and while Umandral might feel quite comfortable deceiving Ratty when an opportunity to do so presented itself (for all that his species claimed to be above lying), Ratty saw no reason to doubt that claim.

Umandral's eyes glittered, as if he knew very well what was going through Ratty's mind. "It will be interesting to see the believers deal with the Goddess sending them two Joys, don't you think?"

One of them would look nothing like her mother, of course.

Ratty briefly toyed with the idea of infanticide. Homicide held more appeal, but Umandral was an official Ambassador of the species unofficially called the 'cuckoos'. Killing him might have consequences, not all of which would be happy ones.

"You're not a killer, Friend Ratty," Umandral said. His smile almost seemed genuinely sympathetic for a moment. Probably a trick of the light. "Be glad. It's why I've decided to let you live."

Ratty scowled. 'Let him live', indeed. As if the High Priestess's Consort might be disposed of without a considerable portion of the planet rising up against his murderer.

"Thanks to me, you'll live long enough to see my daughter and hers grow into women," said Umandral. "You should be thankful."

Perhaps if the bearers of the gift had been less annoying, Ratty might have been able to find it in himself to be so. "Why?"

Umandral shrugged. "I just told you. Without the Children's technology, you'd be old and decrepit by now, possibly dead already. You value your own life, don't you?"

Ha! Not a perfect mind reader after all, although Umandral had never claimed to be one. Merely to be superior in every way to the natives and those unwise enough to shorten their life span by staying here.

"I meant, why her? Why Joy?" Ratty'd fallen in love with a Joy once. She was Love now, and one day, she would become Duty.

It got complicated only when he thought about it for too long.

"Why not Joy?" Umandral countered. He might have claimed it was to bring the species closer together, to infiltrate the native religion, or even just to drive Ratty insane.

The fact that he hadn't might mean nothing at all, but Ratty rather thought he smelled a rat.

"You love her!" It didn't make the prospect of Umandral as his son-in-law any less appalling, but at least it might make future family gatherings almost bearable.

Umandral's turn to scowl. "She's very stupid."

The Children's average IQ was well above that of ordinary humans. Then again, Ratty knew perfectly well that 'having a high IQ' did not necessarily equal 'smart' any more than 'having an average or low IQ' equalled 'stupid'. It was just a number, based on a test, based on specific skills in specific areas.

"Lucky for you!" he said. Implying a smarter girl would have known better than to even consider picking Umandral for a boyfriend-slash-substitute-future-father-for-her-future-daugther.

"Remarkably good in bed, though," Umandral added. "Not that we've ever done it there yet."

Ratty gave him points for trying, but trying was all it was. He knew for a fact that if the relationship had really gone _that_ far, Joy would have told Love, and Love would have told Ratty. Gently, possibly, but she would not have kept it from him.

"I suppose you may have to start calling me 'Dad'." Not on Pock's world, probably. So not in any place Ratty would ever visit during his life.

Umandral's scowl deepened. "Only in your dreams."

Ratty suddenly wondered if Umandral had an actual father. Logic said 'yes', but logic could not always be applied to aliens. It was what made them aliens.

"Still," he said, "welcome to the family. I guess. Should I give you the speech about how, if you hurt her, I'll hunt you down and break your legs?"

Safer, probably, to go all-in and bury Umandral's body somewhere nobody would ever find it.

Umandral sneered. "I'd like to see you try."


End file.
